Suresh Raina has been an illustrious chapter in India’s limited-overs cricket. However, the stocks have gone down for the all-rounder in recent times and have been out of the reckoning for quite some time now. Recently, former chairman of selectors, MSK Prasad opened up on why Raina didn’t make a national comeback.
Raina, who has represented his country in 226 ODIs and 78 T20Is apart from 18 Tests, last played for India in July 2018 in England. The selectors dropped him from the squad owing to constant failures and lack of scores in domestic cricket. Raina has been a stalwart in the Indian Premier League; however, has struggled to replicate his form in the India jersey.
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His below-par performances in the domestic circuit made things worse for the cricketer from Uttar Pradesh. Suresh Raina managed to score only 243 runs, with two fifties, in five Ranji games in 2018-19 season. Speaking on the curious case of Raina, MSK Prasad expressed that he hasn’t scored enough runs to push his case.
“See VVS Laxman, when he was dropped from the Indian Test squad in 1999, he forced himself back by scoring over 1400 runs in domestic cricket. This is what is expected from senior players when they are dropped,” Prasad told PTI.
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“Unfortunately, we didn’t see that form here in Raina’s case in domestic cricket while other youngsters emerged at the big stage with their brilliant performances in domestic cricket and India A,” he added.
Meanwhile, recently, Suresh Raina targetted the selection panel led by MSK Prasad for not clarifying the reason for his ouster from the Indian team. But MSK Prasad dismissed all the claims stating that they have watched many Ranji matches during their stint before selection. He also added these type of comments are not expected from a cricketer of Raina’s stature. The former selector also claimed that he had personally met him and told him what they were looking from him.
“I had personally spoken to Raina calling him to my room and explained him the roadmap for his future comebacks. He had, back then, appreciated my efforts. I am really surprised when I have heard things which are exactly contrary to what had happened,” Prasad signed off.
